QuickTake:

Andrew Goble retired from UO this summer, about seven months after his arrest. He had told investigators he was collecting the recordings for a presentation to students. His lawyer said Goble would likely be deported back to Australia after serving his prison time.

A retired University of Oregon history professor was sentenced to 16 months in prison after pleading guilty Friday, Oct. 30, to three counts of duplicating or exchanging child sexual abuse material.

Andrew Edmund Goble, 73, was a UO professor specializing in Asian studies at the time of his arrest Nov. 21, 2025, by the Lane County Sheriff’s Office. Goble retired June 15, 2026, a UO spokesperson said.

Lane County Circuit Judge Charles Zennaché also ordered Goble to hand over his passport and green card.

“Mr. Goble will be going back to Australia after this, more likely than not through deportation,” said Hannah Silverman, a defense attorney for Goble.

Deputy District Attorney Zori Cook described the investigation of Goble as a “peer-to-peer case,” referring to the method for sharing computer files online.

Goble’s computer interacted with a sheriff’s office computer to transfer some 3,800 files from September to about November last year, Cook said.

“Not all of it was what we would consider CSAM (child sexual abuse material), but quite a bit of this was,” Cook said.

A grand jury indicted Goble on 10 counts of first-degree encouraging child sexual abuse, the formal charge under Oregon law for duplicating or exchanging visual recordings of sexually explicit conduct involving children. After negotiations, prosecutors agreed to dismiss seven counts of the charge.

Cook said Goble told investigators “he was collecting this material for some sort of presentation for his students in the future.”

“There is not an academic value to them,” Cook said of the visual recordings. “They do qualify as CSAM material.” 

Cook said other law enforcement computers, including those with the federal agency Homeland Security Investigations, previously interacted with Goble’s computers, but “they all failed to act on it; we have not been able to find out why.”

Gobel has no other pending charges, Cook said.

Goble, after being asked if he would like to address the court, said it was “not my intent to disseminate child sexual abuse material.” He said he “deeply” regrets his actions.

“I hope that I may be able to atone for this,” Goble said.

Each count of first-degree encouraging child sexual abuse carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, and as part of the plea agreement, Goble is serving the penalty for each count concurrently.

Zennaché told Goble the plea deal “made sense” but told him “this isn’t something [that’s] a victimless crime.”

“There are victims.” Zennaché said. “These children who were filmed in these things were victimized by adults.”

As part of Goble’s sentence, he must register as a sex offender.